


Jittery

by pylades



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 11:36:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9818621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pylades/pseuds/pylades
Summary: A carriage ride and some encouragement





	

Katherine’s hands are still jittery.

She’d like to blame it on a lack of sleep. On printing an illicit newspaper beneath her father’s very empire. But she just keeps thinking of how warm Jack’s chest felt beneath her palm. And how strong his hands were overtop hers.

It’s clearly not because she’s overtired.

She slips her hands into her lap, hoping that the thick fabric hides the shakiness from her companion. 

But Medda is as observant as even the best reporter (which maybe, just maybe, Katherine’s on her way to becoming).

“How are you doing, darlin’?”

“I’m all right, Miss Medda.”

Medda chuckles and the sound makes Katherine look up from her lap, curious.

“All right? Girl, you’re on your way to confront the Governor of New York! And if all goes well, you’re going to cause your daddy one helluva headache.”

Katherine grins a little. “Well, neither of those things are new experiences for me. I’ve sat at dinner tables with Governors before. And giving my father a headache -- well, that’s a Tuesday.”

“It’s certainly going to shape up to be quite a Tuesday, at least! I wouldn’t blame you for being a touch shaky. I certainly would be.”

“Well, maybe a touch.” she agrees finally. “I just hope that this succeeds. Everyone’s worked so hard and if it doesn’t -” Katherine trails off. If it doesn’t -- then what? Her father was furious with Jack to begin, but once spurned? Joseph Pulitzer would stop at nothing to punish him. What would happen to Crutchie in that horrible Refuge or David and Les or any number of those sweet boys she’d come to know and care for in such a short time?

“Don’t borrow trouble. All we can do is fight each battle as they come to us, darlin’ girl. But I tell you, those drawings you’ve got right there? That newspaper? They’re stronger than any weapon that can be forged. You’ll see.”

Medda places her hands over Katherine’s, linking their fingers together. And it’s nice - not just the gentle touch, a sign of familiarity that has, until recently, been all too absent from her life. She’s forgotten what it’s like to have someone care about her, to care for her as more than a showpiece or a pawn. And in a few days, she’s surrounded herself with people who care so very much. Katherine glances across the carriage at the piece of pipe that protected Jack’s drawings and the copy of the Banner. And she cares, too. She’s fighting for them, she has faith in them.

Governor Theodore Roosevelt (and her father) aren’t going to know what hit them.


End file.
